Jason
by The Pyromaniac Hunter
Summary: 10 year old Jason and 12 year old Katelyn never would have guessed they'd find themselves in a zombie apocalypse. Neither would guess one would end up turning, and the other would be at risk of it. Reunited, they attempt to find the remains of civilization, while meeting old and new friends along the way. [Version 2, Rated T for violence]
1. Surprise Return

**Welp, the first few chapters weren't very good, so here's a TOTAL remake of them! I changed them to first person, reworked the events, and made it... make more sense in general. Worth rereading, reviews and follows appreciated!**

I slowly opened my eyes to the dark room around me. I remembered being thrown in here and passing out, but that was about it.

My brain took quite a while to register where I was, and I had to think for a second before it told me I was sitting against a wall, claw marks all over it. Claw marks?  
I tried getting up to get a better look at them, but my limbs were a lifetime behind, and it took forever before I could lift myself off the ground with stiff, weak muscles. As I stood up, I had to place my hand on the wall more than enough times to prevent myself from falling over until I could balance on hind legs, although it felt odd standing straight up.

After what I just went through to GET UP, I had to stop for a moment before deciding whether I should try navigating the room. But I had forgotten the difficulty I had moving, and fell over a lot trying to figure out how to get from one wall to the next.  
After a bit of trial and error, I managed to walk all the way across the room on two legs. It was a pathetic pace, but anything was process. How did any of this happen?  
Deciding I had tortured my back enough standing up, I fell back down onto all fours, which was definitely more comfortable. Was my spine supposed to be bent at this angle? I had thought no, but couldn't think of what my spine was supposed to look like, nor did I honestly care enough to. I crawled into a connecting room, just as dark, and grabbed a shiny white bowl that was extending out from the wall to lift myself up, making it easier to stand. Despite the darkness, I could see perfectly fine, knowing where everything was. But the stench of the bottles sitting on the opposite side of the room was just... ugh...

I groaned in disgust to this sudden enhancement to smell, but slapped a hand over my mouth. What was that?! I had made some sort of growl or something... but I DEFINITELY knew it was not normal. I sounded like an animal.

The texture of my hand made me pull it back to examine it. It was a dark gray, with sharp, pointy claws sticking out of the ends of my fingers. My feet were like that, too, although they weren't as sharp, but still...

Having enough, I crawled out of the room, searching for some other way out. When I saw the door, I knew it had to be a way out.

Now to just get it open...

How did this work? It looked like the rest of the wall, but had a circular metal thing jutting out of it. I assumed I was pretty short, and guessed the twisting thing was meant for opening and closing the door, but I guessed that it was meant for taller figures, as my teeth did nothing to help open it, and they were the only thing that could grab it. I noticed that my teeth were sharp, too, but ignored that.

I started to get frustrated, banging on the door as if it would open for me if I tried hard enough. The sound of chipping wood made me freeze. I saw the door had compressed and started to break where I hit. That was how I could get out!  
Backing up, I ran towards it as I sent my clawed fist through the door, smashing it open easily. What I had not expected was the sudden burning in my eyes as light flooded into them.

I screeched as I stumbled back into the room in agony, my eyes feeling like they were ripped out. I had to find somewhere dark, where the light couldn't hurt me, and bolted under the bed.

After my eyes weren't in searing pain, I risked looking back to the light outside the door, but from the safety of below the bed. I had to squint because it was still a little bright, even from here, and realized that I'd have to get through that light to get outside. Grunting, I looked around the dark room, finding nothing. As I crawled out from under the bed, however, I felt a flap on the back of my clothing fall over my head, covering my eyes. I was startled, at first, but it started to come together.  
If I can't see, that also means I can't see light. If I don't see light, then I won't be hurt by it! Of course! I squealed in delight, but already was used to my odd voice. What was this flap called, though? I tried to think of a name, but nothing came to me. Come on, THINK!

Nothing came to me, so I gave up on giving the clothing a name. Maybe somebody could help me figure out this whole mess.

The flap of clothing over my eyes, I started towards the light of the busted open door. The light seeped through under it, but it wasn't as painful. More irritating than anything. I wanted there to be NO light, however, and looked for something to help in this new room. Even though I couldn't see, I was able to sense where everything was, and didn't even trip on anything. I opened slide-out doors in the... counter, that's what it is, in the enclosed area in the corner of the room. Since I couldn't see what was actually inside the small containers, I had to feel around inside, thankful nothing sharp was in it.

My hands came across something stretchy. It felt similar to my clothing, but was smaller, and seemed to be a long, rolled up strip. I slipped back into the dark room, pulling the flap off- HOODIE, finally, I growled in my stupidity. I pulled the hood back and examined the stretchy cloth.

It was a small roll of stretchy fabric, and seemed thick enough to block off light. It was partially wrapped in a torn up, clear covering, probably torn from my claws when I found it. I slowly unrolled, and found that it was plenty long. I began to wrap it around my eyes (closing them first, of course) until they overlapped two or three times, and bit the end with my teeth. After sitting there like an idiot trying to tie it, I finally managed to do one, keeping the wrapped cloth tight.

I sat up, putting the roll of cloth in my hoodie pocket near my stomach, and cautiously stepped out. No light came through! It really worked! Overjoyed, I leaped around (I found leaping across the room easy and quite fun) until I got ahold of myself. Now I can get out of here. I put the hood back over my face, covering the wrapping so I didn't look like a monster or a crazy person.

I stepped out into the empty hallway, surprised it was so quiet. Then, a loud howl rang out, and I barely saw the huge one-armed beast slam into me, continuing to charge forward as he crashed into the wall.

Only, it wasn't a wall.

The rusted door gave away, and we fell down a square hole, crashing into the ground, hard. I had managed to land on my hands and feet, absorbing most of the fall. But the One-Armed, no matter how he landed, hit the ground, hard. Dead. I didn't realize we fell that far down.

There was another set of similar, metal doors above me on the wall of the shaft, and I had to climb up a little bit to reach it. It was partway open, so I pushed one of the sliding doors to the side, opening it up more.

The scent of death flooded my nose, and it took everything to stop me from gagging. There were bodies littered everywhere, I didn't need sight to know they were there. But another scent made it through them...  
I began to follow it, curious. My stomach had started growling, and I felt my mouth watering as I stood in front of a small building. Food was inside there. And I was beyond hungry.

I smashed through the door, the glass scattering across the ground, some cut into my hands and cheek, but I ignored it. I was too focused on that food.

I searched through every shelf, but none of whatever was there smelled like the food. I heard heavy breathing behind me, and something whispered "Shit," as I turned towards the sound.

It was a person. And I wasn't sure why, but before I thought otherwise, I had pounced onto the man, tearing at his throat and chest as I devoured everything that came out. The struggling stopped, and the man - no, my food - went limp, as I continued to eat at everything in his chest. I liked the red, beating thing the best, it tasted delicious.  
I wish I felt sorry for him, but instead I found it fun. There was something about hunting people down and killing them that almost... amused me.

I picked up another human scent, licking my blood-stained lips as I happily leaped towards it, ready for another fun meal.

~Katelyn~

"Lance, STOP!"

He pulled me along as he bashed the skulls in of all of the nearby zombies with his baseball bat. Lance was about a foot taller than me, expected when he's 17 and I was only 12.

Lance sighed, his grip on my wrist loosening, but he turned sharply.  
"If we stop right now, that giant is going to catch us," he hissed, continuing to pull me. He was one of the jocks at his school, and even after this all happened and he found me attacked by one of the tongue-shooting zombies, he still treats me like a liability.

"Lance, the giant gave up on us 12 minutes ago, we have to be safe by now!" I yelled back. We had been going through a grocery store to find anything useful, when a huge zombie busted down the wall. I mean a HUGE zombie. Its muscles were at least three times what they should be, and it was about two feet taller than Lance. It was so big, it'd run on all fours after us like a gorilla, except gorillas don't stay up after 2 clips from our assault rifle, which Lance dropped by accident when a slab of concrete flew over our heads.

"Kate, listen, if we stop it will probably catch up to us!" he yelled, tugging at my wrist harder as we speed walked down the alley. "And we can't solve everything with jumping on walls, Freerunner."

I hated that nickname. Yes, I was very passionate for parkour, but he didn't have to brand me with it. In fact, he's only really called me Katelyn twice.

"I never said we HAD to solve everything with parkour," I said through grinding teeth, "and stop calling me that!"

"Shut the FUCK UP!" he yelled, letting go and slapping me. He had finally snapped. He shoved me to the ground, and I hit my head on the wall. I started seeing spots when he came back in my vision. "You should be thanking me for saving your ass," he hissed, kicking me in the side. "I saved you from the tongue, didn't I?"

"I... was already cutting the tongue... when it got me..." I whispered, and received another kick. The wind rushed out of me like a balloon.

"It doesn't really matter," he said calmly, and his frown turned into a cruel grin. I wasn't sure why, when I heard a low growling. It was one of the leapers...  
"Ain't that a shame," he said, standing up, "I don't get to play with you," What?! "But at least you still die at the end. I'll let you chose, bat or HIM?" he asked as the leaper let out a threatening shriek. It sounded higher pitched than other leapers... but it didn't attack.

"Time's up," Lance said, and I began to panic. I swung my leg out, knocking him over as I scrambled up. There weren't as many spots in my vision, and I was able to stand straight, and bolted.

"Clever little bitch," I heard him say, "But I can outrun ya, Freerunner."

"Not how I run," I spat back, jumping onto a dumpster and running along the corner of the alley wall before dropping off, landing on the other side of the barbed fence.  
Which was now separating Lance from me.

"Come on, Freerunner, you know I'll just catch you!" he said, smashing the fence with his bat. It was so rusty, the bat was easily denting the weak chain-link.  
I saw the leaper above us, jumping between the two narrow walls of the buildings we were between to catch up, and it was like it was watching us.

He gave me an idea.

The fence crumbled, and Lance sprinted towards me, but I was already running at him. Then, at the last second, I turned sharply onto the wall, using my speed to dig my feet into the brick as I jumped between the narrow space. Lance looked up in awe and indescribable rage. As I neared the roof top, I was slowing down a lot, tired from jumping between such narrow walls and windowsills, an scrambled up with what momentum I had left, mantling over the edge as I barely made it.

I looked over the edge to see Lance... Smiling?

"I guess watching you die would be a bit more interesting."

What? What did he... oh no.

I forgot about the leaper, and turned sharply as he snarled at me. He was shorter than other leapers, and I noticed it was a kid. A bit younger than me even. The bloodied hoodie covered his face, but I could see his teeth bared at me. Then, he stopped. Sniffing me, he crawled closer. My heart was racing, I was sure it would burst through my rib cage.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the claws to tear my chest open, but it never came. I felt something on my hip, and opened my eyes to see him licking the wound Lance gave me. It was bleeding, and it looked like the leaper was... cleaning it.

"What the hell is going on up there?!" Lance demanded. He probably thought I killed the leaper or something, because he started climbing up the fire escape to the roof. I backed away from it, worried he'd throw the bat at me when he reached the top, and the leaper followed aside me as I went.

Lance came up, a murderous look in his eyes, but stopped when he saw the leaper.  
"How... Has it not killed you yet..."

Now that he wasn't chasing me, his rage subsided, fear replacing it. Even if the leaper killed me, Lance had nothing to defend himself with if it went for him.

"Oh, fuck this!" he screamed, and he pulled something out of his pocket. A pistol. He had one the whole time?!

Without thinking, I turned around and ran across the roof. The leaper had the same idea, leaping to the next rooftop as Lance shot at where it was.

As I neared the edge of the rooftop, I saw the leaper lunge into somewhere below the roof, and I assumed it was a window. Instead of jumping the roof, I ran off the edge, kicking off the wall of the next building, just barely landing inside the window. The edge of the rooftop stuck out past the wall, and Lance couldn't see the window when he looked over.

I hid in the room as a string of curses rang out above me as Lance went back down the ladder. Now that I wasn't with him, he would fire the pistol frequently at the zombies, swearing all the way, and I didn't move away from the window until the sounds were extremely distant.

I boarded up the window with everything I could find, and curled up in the corner. I didn't like Lance as a friend or personally in any way, but he was the only person I had for protection, and now I know he was using me for extra hands to defend for him, and tried to kill me when I wasn't worth it. I was about to cry when I remembered the leaper. He was watching me, perched on a bed, the blood of what I guessed was his last victim still dripping slightly from his mouth.

"Just hurry up and kill me if you're going to!" I yelled, and he jumped back. I got up, trying to distract myself by searching around the apartment for weapons or food. The thick, red door signaled this was actually a safe room, so there must of been supplies here.

Eventually, I found a stash of ammunition, a double-barrel, three SMGs, two pre-made pipebombs, a Molotov, and an SG-552. Strange, my father had one with the same manufacturer markings. It even had the same oddly colored firing pin. After some thought, I realized this WAS my dad's SG, and this was our apartment. That means his other weapons must be here!

Sure enough, after searching around, I found them. My dad had owned a modified Glock that had a built-in laser sight under the barrel that was actually defective, and was brighter than it should be. Great for blinding attackers, unless they were zombies.  
The other one was my P226 semi-auto. It had a flashlight/laser system attached under the barrel, and a match trigger that almost never failed. The slide was custom made to be faster, and could be fitted with many types of suppressors/compensators, sights, and even barrels. The gun was modified to make the bullets fly faster. A good 70% of the whole pistol was custom or even homemade. My dad could of started his own gun manufacturing business if he wanted to.

I brushed my thumb over the engraving on the slide of the P266. The Glock was made for my brother, who got evacuated, and the 266 was for me, so each one had our first name engraved onto it. 'MARC' was engraved into the edge of the Glock in my brother's rushed style, since we were allowed to engrave them ourselves, but mine was much neater, in cursive, with my name shining along the edge; one tick mark was next to it, to symbol the one major kill it made, when my dad became turned.  
It was a reminder, whenever I felt guilty, that when he turned, it wasn't my dad anymore, it was just another monster.

I forgot the leaper was there again (Screw my short term memory), and was startled when I saw his head looking over my shoulder. He was wondering what I was doing, and began whining.

I knew that whine.

I turned sharply, making him jump, and looked at him.

Could it be...?

I reached my hand out towards his hood. He shrunk back, baring his teeth, but I didn't stop. I grabbed the front, and before he could do anything, I pulled it up, gasping at his face.

Jason was my best friend before this. We stuck together during the infection, until he was bit by a leaper on his birthday...

He leaped to the other side of the room, pulling the hood back over his face. "Jason?" I weakly said, and his head snapped up. He recognized it, but he looked confused, as if he wasn't sure what it meant. He had no time to react as I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug, sobbing. He didn't seem to understand, but at this point I didn't care. If he remembered me enough to not attack when he had all of these chances, then there must be a way to get the old Jason back.

When the sun started to set, I sat down on the couch to see if the TV still worked. There was electricity, but no cable, so I shut it back off. Before I went to sleep, I saw Jason pull back his hood and take off the gauze wrapped around his eyes. I was worried he'd have empty, bloody eye sockets behind them, but instead there were two round, clouded, light blue eyes. His blond hair was tangled in blood and dirt, and there was even a small patch of dried bile in his bangs. He probably ran into some interesting zombies.

Jason saw me staring, and darted out of view. I smiled to myself as I drifted off to sleep.


	2. Loose Ends

**Aaaand here's Chapter 2 remade! Again, changed to a less confusing first person point of view, reworked what happens, and made their run-in with Lance a bit more interesting. Worth rereading, and I'd appreciate reviews and follows!**

**Enough talking, here's Chapter 2: Loose Ends!**

~Jason~

My eyes opened, and I slowly pushed myself off the bed, forgetting I was on the end of the bed. I rolled over, only to fall face-first onto the ground, groaning.

A human scent flooded my nose, but I reminded myself that it was the girl. I can't remember why I didn't kill her, but there's a faint voice in the back of my head telling me not to harm her. She wasn't in the room, which was pitch black, but I could smell her outside. I went over to scratch on the door so she could open it, when I stopped and saw the light coming through under the door. That's why it was shut.  
Wrapping the cloth back around my eyes, I smelled something else...

She probably had a mini-heart attack as I smashed the door open, and dropped the thing in her hands. I didn't care.

She barely managed to move away as I tackled the meat, chewing into it. It wasn't human, but it would do. After calming herself down from my scare, she started talking about how she found it in a "fridge," but I tuned her out until I was done.

"...and I was thinking about cooking it, but I guess I don't have to for you," she finished. I knew there was more of this stuff in the fridge thing, and licked my lips as I got closer. There was blood dripping off my chin from the raw meat, but my tongue couldn't lick it back up, so I whined for another one. "You... Oh, you want more?" she asked, and I nodded. I heard a metal door open, and a cold gust of cold air hit me.

And the smell of meat.

I made a mental image of what a fridge was as she left it open.

"Help yourself, I'm a vegetarian," the girl said, leaving the meats on the table. She was apparently "letting them thaw out" if I got hungry today, but this was enough for maybe the morning. I devoured most of it, and picked at the rest, although it was gone eventually. When I had finished, the girl was pulling a bar out of the thick door, which was keeping it closed. "I'm not sure if you remember," she started, getting down to my eye level, "but we knew each other before... this. I'm Katelyn."

Katelyn... Katelyn... I felt like I knew her, but I could never think of why. It was the same feeling I got when I found her with the Lance guy. Although I mostly let her live because I couldn't stand how he was chasing her in an attempt to kill her. They may be my food, but I still wished the guy was a bit nicer to... Katelyn.

I snapped back as I heard the heavy door swing open. Katelyn held it so I could get out, and I heard the bang of it close as she stepped out with me. The scent of humans flooded my nose, and I pulled at her clothing to get her attention. She was wearing a hoodie too, but probably kept the hood above her eyes instead of over them so she could see.

"What is it?" she asked, but the sound of nearby gunfire made her understand.  
Katelyn led me down the hall to... oh no.

Not this thing again.

I whined as I stopped short of the two steel doors. I expected another one of those big armed zombies to come out and smash me through it again. "Are you claustrophobic?" Katelyn asked, and I nodded, although I had no idea what that meant. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen," she said as the doors opened by themselves. I expected the bottomless pit, but instead it was another room inside. I cautiously got in, but Katelyn calmly went inside like she owned it. The steel doors closed again, and I sat in the small room, waiting for something to happen as she pressed something on the wall.

The room began to fall slowly, and I panicked, breathing unevenly and grabbing the first thing I could, which was Katelyn's arm. What if a one-armed comes through the doors, or if this room falls faster?! How could she be so calm about this?!

The moving stopped, and the doors slid open. I flung myself out, sobbing. I barely knew why, aside from freaking out. "Hey, it's ok, Jason," she said, "It's just an elevator."

It could of been called anything, I was still freaking out. What if that thing suddenly dropped while moving, or caught on fire, or just stopped with the doors stuck shut... ANYTHING, in that small space, was dangerous.

Maybe that was what claustrophobic meant.

~Katelyn~

After Jason's "episode" in the elevator, he pulled himself together, and we were able to carry on. I mostly scaled buildings while he would just leap up them. We walked on the rooftops, looking for either friendly survivors for us to take shelter with, or hostile ones for him.

As I landed onto a lower building, I saw a body near the other side. I ran over, curious as to what it was.

It was another leaper, shot before he could attack. I noticed he had duct tape wrapped around the sleeves of his hoodie and pant legs in certain spots. Jason poked at it, probably wondering what it does.

"I think that's so they can leap farther without being dragged down or something," I said, and remembered I had a roll in my backpack. I pulled it out, and asked Jason to sit still. He did, and I wrapped the duct tape around his arms and legs, like how the leaper had it.

When I was done, his head shot up, sniffing the air. A survivor. He leaped onto the next rooftop in a hurry, and had to stop to wait for me.

When we got there, Jason began to growl at whoever it was, and I looked over the edge to see.

It was Lance, and he was quietly walking down an alley, a shotgun in his hands. I couldn't see exactly what kind it was, but my guess was it was a Remington.

He looked up when he heard Jason's growl, and saw me. He aimed his shotgun up, probably guessing I was a leaper. He realized it was me, and lowered it. "What do you want, Freeruner," he demanded. I chuckled, holding up the Glock at him. I fired a few rounds, but he moved just before he could get hit. He ran into one of the building doors, shutting it behind him. I jumped down, slowing myself down with the wall along the way.

I wasn't scared of him anymore. He probably expected me to cautiously open the door, because he looked shocked when I kicked it down, holding my Glock and P226 to his face. He immediately ducked, kicking my legs out like I did to him, only I expected it and shoved my elbow into his face as I went down.

After a nice, sickening cracking sound, he rolled away, barely getting up as I jump kicked him square in the chest. He pulled back, blood flowing from his nose, but he barely notices it.

He grabbed a machete off the wall, and charged towards me, swinging it wildly. I knew he wasn't one for aim once he was pissed, so I ducked, landing a good blow in his stomach with my head as he kept going. I heard the air leave him as he collapsed to the ground.

I was about to grab the machete, when I noticed something about his posture. Despite almost being knocked out, he was tense, like he was waiting. Before I could get back, his leg shot up, connecting with my chin. I fell back as everything became a blur. I had almost blacked out, but stayed awake as he shoved his foot on my chest.  
"Any last words?" he asked, breathing heavily. It sounded like he was miles away.

"Go to hell," I muttered, and he snickered, causing more blood to seep out of his nose. "See you there."

A loud, high pitched screech caused him to get off, searching for the source, until a small blur tackled him.

FROM THE CEILING.

Clever little bastard indeed...

Lance began to scream as Jason carved into his chest. He was going to die slowly. Lance looked to me, pleading, but I just stared daggers at him as Jason found his trachea and chewed through it.

Eventually, Lance's body was limp, and Jason started to eat his heart, but spat it out, confused. I wasn't a doctor, but I could tell he had some heart disease. "Yeah, you don't want to eat that," I said. Normally, I'd be sick at the sight of something like this, but instead, I was relieved. It was like a weight off my shoulders, and I don't have to look behind me every second in case Lance comes out and tries to kill me.

Eventually, however, the natural nausea to seeing something like this kicked in, and I had to turn away to not throw up. I heard Jason crawling over, his claws making small taps on the ground. After a few deep breaths, I got back up, and we returned to the apartment.

It was surprising the day had already gone by, but I barely managed to get into the safe room. One of the large armed Pounders had destroyed the elevator while we were gone, and the stairs were either completely blocked off to the point where Jason couldn't get past, or partially collapsed. I had to pretty much redo what I did escaping Lance, and busted through the window to get back in. I was too tired to board it back up, and almost instantly fell asleep.

~Jason~

I was watching Katelyn's sleeping, surprised how soundly she slept. I woke up about 4 times at the last darkness, each time from a different nightmare I couldn't remember, but Katelyn's breathing was even and silent.

A screech interrupted my thoughts, and my eyes darted towards the window. The bright sun that comes out during the darkness wasn't in the sky, so I had taken the wraps off my eyes. I leaped out the window, watching for the source.  
Nothing.

I could of sworn the leaper was close by, but there was no scent. Giving up,  
I curled up next to Katelyn, dozing off into my next set of forgotten nightmares.


	3. Stalk the Leader

**Remember how bad this chapter was?**

**Now we don't have to! Here's Chapter 3: Stalk the Leader**

~Bill~

I need to remind myself to stop doing this shit.  
After Echo was flooded with Infected, we managed to escape with minimal injuries on a train. As Zoey, Louis, and Francis slept in the train to rest, I took a walk to get away from them and scout the area.

However, I had to run away when a Tank began to chase me (Clever bastard was hiding in a derailed train), and I was several miles away from my group when it grew tired of me and went back.

Now, I wander aimlessly around in this city. Zoey would know what this place was called.

The sound of gunshots made me jump, and I raised my M16A3 at the source. A trio of Survivors were in the alley across from me, cackling away as they burned through their ammo on a few pitiful Common.

Aside from their unwise ammo usage, they seemed good enough to stick around with until morning. "Hello!" I called out, and the smallest one immediately turned towards me, gun raised. I liked his instincts.

"Are you human?" the boy asked, and I almost laughed at his stupidity. However, I'd have to play this safe to stay alive, and kept on his good side. "Yes, are you three immune?" I returned, and they nodded. After the last Common was ripped to shreds by the gunfire, I walked over to them, putting away my rifle.

"Who are you, old man," the tall one asked, a threatening tone behind it. He was like a younger Francis. "Bill," I said, the same amount of venom in it as his. "Joey," he returned, putting his hand out to shake. I shook his hand firmly, then looked around. "Could you tell me where you three are going?"

"We're going to this dock a couple of miles ahead," the middle one said. "I'm Carl. This is Kyle," Carl said, pointing to the youngest one. He looked about 17, with red, curly hair and many freckles. He had a military rifle in his hands, and was constantly picking off hiding Specials that I could never have seen in a million years. Carl was a bit taller, maybe in his early twenties, with short, dark hair. His bulletproof vest had a good five or six pipebombs strapped to it, and a defib unit on his back. He had a pump shotgun with him, but it looked like it was a semi-auto conversion.

Finally, there was Joey. He was about my height if I stood straight up, and was probably in his late 30s. He was bald and had a cigarette in his mouth. I regretted leaving my lighter back at the train now that I saw it, but he offered me his when he noticed. Maybe he wasn't too bad.

We began to walk around the streets of whatever city this was, and I constantly had to remind Carl to save his ammo, which he would merely smirk to and continue shooting. I turned the corner, and held a hand out to stop them from getting to close.  
Luckily, the Tank right in front of us was dead, but surrounding him was a mass of cars.

With alarms.

"Don't. Touch. The cars." I whispered through my teeth, but Carl and Kyle ran ahead. "Relax, old man, we'll be fine!" Kyle shouted, purposefully shooting the zombies that were incredibly close to the cars.

Joey put his hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see an equally frustrated look. "They do this all the time, let's just keep going."

As the younger two ran around the cars like idiots, Joey and I carefully navigated around them, making sure not to get pounced or grabbed by a Smoker. I looked up and saw two hooded figures watching us from a rooftop, and I pointed to them.

"Hunters," I said, as Joey and I fired some rounds at them. We missed, but it wasn't worth it to waste more ammo trying as they scrambled away. The smaller one leaped away, but the larger one jumped off the roof out of sight. Strange it didn't leap away as well.

Sure enough, an alarmed blared out, and I turned to see Kyle getting up. "I tripped, sorry!" he yelled, and a massive horde of zombies began closing in, hitting every fucking car.

Setting off every fucking car.

"Get on the truck!" I yelled, climbing onto the top of a semi, and I began firing down on the zombies. There was a large pile of ammo up on the truck, so I was set for ammo for now. "I'll find peace back on Earth if I gotta murder every one of these animals with my own BARE HANDS!" I yelled, and punched a Hunter square in the jaw as it tried to pounce me, and I unleashed a hail of bullets into its skull.

Carl's pipebombs began to beep away as he hurled them as far as possible, easily fending for himself, but Kyle wasn't so lucky. A loud, high pitched scream made it through the shrieks of zombies and gunfire.

"Witch!" I yelled, pointing to the gray woman charging towards Kyke, who was trying to land hits on her with his sniper rifle. Not one hit. I was about to shoot the woman when she already swiped one of her long claws through the young man's face, an he collapsed hard on the ground, dead.

The Witch ran off, mostly defended by the wave of zombies coming at us. All I could do was shout to the other two that Kyle was gone. Joey swore out loud, but was smart and stayed put rather than try and save the dead body. Carl, however, ran towards Kyle, throwing his last pipebomb. He continuously tried the defib unit on the young man, but he was beyond gone. Soon, enraged common began to swarm him, and eventually Carl's yells died out.

When the horde thinned, I saw a safe room door and ran towards Joey. "Safe room, right there, let's go!" I yelled, and he followed me. A loud roar startled me, and a Charger hurled himself at me. Instinct made me immediately roll to the side, to safety. But the sickening crunch of bones and Joey's scream made me turn around.

Joey, who was not used to facing death every other minute, had taken the full impact of the charge, and as the Charger smashed into a wall I could see a bone sticking out of his shooting arm.

My assault rifle was dry, an I silently cursed to myself for not keeping track of my ammo during the fight. My hand grabbed the gun on my belt, and I twirled it up, at the Charger's head. It was my old friend's revolver which I had engraved his initials, CS, into the side. Before it could smash Joey's crippled body any further, I fired one shot, and the massive Infected dropped like a rock, on top of Joey. I took a quick look around, and ran over once I saw everything was clear.

He was unconscious, and his breaths were so faint I barely heard them. Only his arm was severely broken, the rest were minor fractures. But still, I aimed my revolver at his head when I saw his ankle, which had a deep bite mark in it. It was horribly discolored, and small boils were surrounding it. He was not immune.

After hesitating longer than I should, I squeezed the trigger, his head jerking slightly as his skull shattered inside his head. The bullet hole was rather big, but clean. "Rest in peace," I whispered, closing his eyes and making my way to the building that held the safe house.

~Katelyn~

I sat in silence on the rooftop as I saw him shoot his friend. The old man, although clearly shaken up by doing what he did, did not look back as the thick, red steel door slammed behind him. I was directly above him with Jason and a Witch that let me live because of my stash of lollipops.

"Come on," I said silently, and Jason already started jumping down to the ground with a silent thud. I took more time getting down, sliding down pipes and climbing where there were large enough footholds. Normally I'd practically fly down with excitement, maybe even do the backflip I showed my friends once I was 6 feet from the ground, but I didn't have the energy or enthusiasm to right now.

The Witch had chose to go her own way, leaving us to the potential psychopath. I slowly made my way to the safe room door, a bit relieved when I heard him in a different room in the building. At least he didn't know I was here.

I looked back to the man he just killed. His arm was so busted that his bone was jutting out, and his other limbs were bent at mildly awkward angles. But I saw the obvious bite mark on the ankle, now feeling sympathy for the old man. At least he didn't kill this guy from insanity.

"Hello?" I called in front of the door, hoping he'd hear. The noise inside stopped, but I wasn't sure. "Hello? We need to come in!"

"No," was all that came out from inside. His voice was deep, and slightly raspy from years of smoking.

"Come on, please!" I pleaded, as Jason sat next to the door, waiting for something to happen.

A long pause came afterwards, but the man finally spoke again. "Are you immune?" he asked, and I froze. Was I? I've been clawed at quite a few times from leapers and punched quite a bit by the commons, but never bitten. "Y... Yes, I think so," I said. Luckily, he believed it because I heard him come towards the door. "How many of you are there?" he asked.

"Two, one injured," I said, looking to Jason. Before the car alarm went off (and after the old man almost shot me in mistake for a leaper), I thought up a plan to say Jason is a mute that just lost his eyes to an explosion. When that younger guy was there, I was sure it'd work, since he looked kind enough. But now, it was just the old man.

Jason was pale, but enough to look like he's in shock or weakened from the supposed explosion, and not infected. His hair was still a dirtied blond, along with that patch of dried bile (I'll have to ask him about that). His hands were wrapped up in some spare gauze I found, and it was just enough to make it look like an injury and hide the deadly claws. Now, he didn't look like a leaper since I cleaned up his hands of the blood and found him a clean hoodie, but hopefully this man wouldn't pay attention.

The steel door opened slowly, and I found myself staring down the barrel of this man's M16. I pulled out my SG-552 (More for show, hopefully I wouldn't have to use the busted thing), and aimed back. Somehow that made the man relax, and he lowered his own weapon. "Sorry, you looked like a Hunter with that shit," he muttered. I stared blankly at him, confused, until I realized that must of been what he called leapers. I looked down at my clothes, chuckling slightly. "Sorry, it's just what I used to wear all the time."

When I used to do parkour with my friends, I would always wear a dark green hoodie and an old pair of loose jeans. I would wrap duct tape where the loose clothing would bulge out, such as my arms and legs, and it would help move around easier without snagging on something. It was so weird how the leapers dressed up like this as well.

Still cautious, the old man let me in, saying his name was "Bill" as I passed. He stopped Jason, however, and I tensed up. Jason looked up to him with an innocent smile, and Bill kept looking at the bandages wrapped around his sensitive eyes. "What happened here?" he asked Jason, and that's when the leaper started to get nervous.

"He got blinded by an explosion," I blurted out, seeing Jason smile at me. "I've known him for 5 years, he's mute." Why did I say that? Bill showed little care in the 5 years thing, but let him in when I said he's mute. Apparently we were up to his standards.

"I'm going to be heading out tomorrow morning, don't follow me. Guest room's down the hall to the right," he said, walking to a flight of stairs. "Don't bother me."

With that, he went upstairs, and we didn't hear another sound from him. "Thank you," I said, although I wasn't sure if he heard me.

Jason yawned, stretching his arms out as he let out a small, tired growl. It was probably 1 or 2 in the morning, so I went down the hall to the guest room. There was a bathroom next to it with a working shower and washer, and I silently said "Yes" to myself as I put my clothes in the machine and took my first hot shower in a few weeks.

~Jason~

I woke up from my sleeping when I heard Katelyn coming back to the bedroom, and quickly I faked still being asleep. She had her usual hoodie and pants bundled up in her hands, and was wearing dark blue sweatpants and a loose tank top. I think it's what she usually goes to sleep wearing.

Kate's clothes smelled... different. Usually it smelled like my fellow leapers and mud, but now those scents were gone, replaced by something else. It reminded me of the horrible smelling soap in the bathroom when I first woke up, but this smell was a bit more pleasant.

"Good night," I heard her whisper, kissing me lightly on the forehead, before she crawled under the covers and fell asleep, her breathing becoming even and light. Soon I began drowsy again, and fell back asleep.


	4. Proceed With Caution

**I removed Chapter 4 since the remake merged 3 with 4. It didn't make much sense, either, so I redid and merged the two short chapters into one, longer, more understandable chapter!**

**Here's Chapter 4: Proceed With Caution!**

~Katelyn~

Goddamn this headache...

I woke up with the worst headache I've had since that new student back in 3rd Grade, and it took a couple minutes before I could finally get out of bed.

Jason was sleeping peacefully on the edge of the bed, but I could see his mouth watering a bit whenever he would inhale. Either get him some form of meat or my arm, and I prefer keeping that.

As I passed him to the door, I had to hold my nose. He smelled pretty bad. I never noticed this before since I pretty much smelled like him with my hoodie, but now I realize just how bad leapers smell, and an idea popped into my head.

I ran into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and grabbed 3 of the steaks I put in there. All of Bill's food was gone, meaning he probably left already.

I bolted over to the bathroom, and placed the meat down inside the dry tub. After finding some rope, I wrapped it around the faucet, which had water ready to pour within the pipes. I learned (from rather unlucky experience) that ripping out the faucet caused all of the water that was stored to burst out, filling the tub within about 10 seconds.

With that in mind, I placed towels around the outside of the tub. Odds are at least some water would flow over the edge. With everything in place, I turned the light on and set it to dim, so Jason could have difficulty seeing the towels or rope without it hurting him. Then, I left the bathroom door wide open, walked around the corner of the hallway with rope in hand, and waited.

I had infinite patience, so it wasn't hard to wait for Jason to wake up after 5 or 10 minutes and almost immediately scramble into the bathroom.

I snuck in behind him, watching, and once the last piece of raw steak was swallowed, I yanked on the rope, tearing the faucet out. A large stream of water poured out, and Jason yelped as I held him down in the tub. The water filled it up quickly. Then, I submerged him to get him completely soaked.

I took his clothes off and put them in the washing machine, and quickly returned to him so he couldn't get out.

"Close your eyes or this'll hurt like hell," I said, and Jason immediately shut them. I began to untangle his blond hair, which was a nightmare. He continued to whimper in confusion as I opened the bottle of shampoo and began to scrub at anything that was dirty, which was about his entire head. The dried bile would not come out, though, even after emptying half the bottle on his hair. At least it didn't smell now.

Jason had given up struggling, and I began to scrub the grime and blood off his skin. Most of the dirt came out, but his claws were stained with too much blood.

I began washing his right arm when he screeched suddenly, swatting my hand away. He was clutching the top of his arm, and blood was dripping under the soapy bubbles. "What happened?" I asked nervously, even though I knew he couldn't talk. I reached for his arm when he growled at me.

After a few minutes of washing the soap away with water, I was able to see the large, dried gash that ran along the top of his arm, and the bite mark on his shoulder. I'm surprised his shoulder blade wasn't split in half. It took me a while before I remembered what had happened.

It was Jason's 10th birthday, and I wanted to see if I could find him a treat. The grocery store downtown was set up with 2 or 3 generators, so the food that wasn't taken by looters or Infected was still fresh. Almost the instant we left our safe house, several commons attacked us. We easily managed to kill them, but a pounder and leaper ambushed us. The pounder tackled me, knocking me back into the safe house, and instead of uselessly trying to get out of its grasp I grabbed a machete and stabbed the soft, sensitive inside of its huge arm, causing it to drop me instantly. A swift swing at its neck killed it.

Moments later, Jason came in, panting as he stumbled over to me. The shotgun in his hand was completely spent of its ammo. I took it and began to lecture him about how ammo preservation was crucial, especially since we were low at the time.

It took a few seconds for me to realize he was hurt, and I immediately ran to the bathroom to get a first aid kit when I saw the blood seeping out of his arm. I kept reassuring him he'd be fine, and for a few hours, we believed it.

After a couple hours of him complaining it was too bright, he began to throw up. He had a massive fever, and the gash on his arm was starting to get discolored. I sat him down on the couch with 2 blankets, and pulled his hood over his eyes when he said it was hurting too much. I kept telling him it would pass, but I knew it might of been too late. I told him to count down from 100 after he said it was hard to think, and ran around the house, looking for ANYTHING that might help, until I heard him start screaming.

I ran back in the room, to see him doubled over, barely breathing at all. I slowly walked over to him, but he turned sharply towards me when he smelled me. I barely managed to get out of the way when he lunged at me, and ran to the bedroom. I waited for him to lunge again, and right before he hit me I ducked, shutting the door before he could turn around. I ran out of the safe house crying, trying to block my ears as I still heard him in my head.

"Jason, I'm sorry," I whimpered, choking up. It was his birthday. HIS BIRTHDAY! And now he's a victim to this shit virus.

Jason hesitated, but started crawling closer to me, leaning off of his right arm. I was worried he'd swipe his claws at me, but instead he wrapped his arms around me. It was stiff, like he wasn't sure, but it was still a hug.

~Jason~

Why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that...

Why did I hug her? She just tortured me with that bath in an attempt to clean me up, and hurt my arm with that stupid soap stuff, and for some reason I forgave her.

We were walking down the street now, and I would keep looking back to make sure Kate was keeping up. Why was I even with her in the first place?! I could just kill her now and have a full stomach for a week, yet instead I'm doing everything I can to keep her safe. What was wrong with me?!

A familiar scent hit my nose, and I made a dead stop. It smelled like the Bill guy that gave us his safe house, and a lot of blood. I motioned for Katelyn to follow me into a building next to us. Inside the dark room, I put my hood up, and saw a large green machine on the other side of the building. There was a blood trail on the ground that led to it from outside, but I couldn't see what was at the end of it. Slowly, I crawled towards it, expecting a giant to jump up from behind the machine. Instead, it was Bill.

Dead.

"Oh my god," I heard Katelyn say behind me, but I jumped back as a bullet whisked by her and hit the wall.

"Hunter!" someone yelled, and I jumped into the shadows. Katelyn hid behind a wall, and we waited for something to happen.

Footsteps started coming towards us, and I saw Kate grab two pistols on her belt.

A woman crept into the room, two similar pistols in hand. They looked less customized than Katelyn's, but still dangerous. Once the woman was out of sight of the shooter outside, Katelyn stepped out in front of her, both pistols aimed at the woman's face.  
The woman stepped back, surprised, but lowered her pistols. "Sorry! Put your guns down, we thought you were a Hunter," she admitted, and Katelyn slowly lowered her pistols. "Those are the leaping ones, right?" she asked, and the woman nodded, chuckling. "I'm Zoey," she said.

I guess Hunter made sense. Even though I assumed we were known for leaping at people, it makes sense to call them based on the fact that they hunted. I made a silent "Oh," but it accidentally slipped out as a quiet growl.

Zoey immediately turned around with her pistols, aimed directly at my face, and I yelped and looked away from the bright light.

I heard a gunshot, but felt nothing. I slowly turned to see the bullet hole only inches from my head on the wall, and saw Zoey against the wall, Katelyn's elbow at her neck. Not like she's going to kill her, but in a way where Zoey couldn't move without getting injured.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoey whispered threateningly, but Katelyn didn't even flinch. "I'm stopping you from shooting a human being," she said calmly, "there isn't much to describe about it."

"Wha-he's a Hunter!" Zoey hissed, continuously looking at me. I crawled closer to them incase Katelyn needed help.

"Did he kill you?" Kate asked, and Zoey hesitated.  
"N-no-"  
"Did he kill me?"  
"No, bu-"  
"Then shut up, I am well aware of what I'm doing. He's still human inside."

"But..." Zoey's voice trailed off. It was almost funny seeing a girl as young as Katelyn overpowering her. "Can you understand me?" she asked me, and I held in a laugh as I nodded. Why wouldn't I be able to?

Katelyn let Zoey go and walked over to me, sitting me up as she did her usual thing to make me look less infected.

"If your friends ask, he's mute," Kate said, and Zoey carefully nodded. I know she didn't trust me still, but at least she was trying rather than shooting me.

Katelyn pulled her hood off, her tan face being obvious proof she wasn't infected, and walked outside with Zoey. I carefully followed behind them, walking on two feet like they were. It was hard to stand straight up.

"Shit, that wasn't a Hunter?" a man asked above us, and I looked up to see a tall man on a bridge looking down at us. He had tattoos all over his arms, and held a shotgun close to his vest.

"No, she wasn't, Francis," Zoey replied, annoyed, "That's a new low for you, shooting kids."

"B-but I didn't!" Francis stammered, putting his hands up innocently, and Zoey sighed, continuing forward.

Next to the bridge was a small, two floor house, with boxes of ammo on a metal bridge on the second floor. As we went inside, Zoey led us to a ladder next to a barricaded set of stairs, and we went up to the next floor. Outside, there were wooden planks nailed to the house, so that they could get to the large bridge easily.

"Who're these two?" the man Zoey called Francis asked, and I did everything not to whimper. The man looked like he could snap someone's neck with his finger.

"This is Katelyn and..." Zoey stopped, and Francis looked at me expectantly.  
"Jason," Katelyn said, and I let out a sigh of relief. "He's mute, sorry."

"What's with your kid toys?" Francis asked, and pointed to Kate's pistols.  
"They don't even look like they shoot real bu-"

Katelyn pulled the trigger of the smaller pistol, and it fired 3 bullets at Francis's feet faster than I've seen any other gun shoot. Francis jumped back, breathing heavily, and I could sense his fear like I can smell blood.

Where Francis's feet were was a triangle of three neat bullet holes, the metal wiring around it torn and mangled from the impact. "I wouldn't call them toys, but they are fun to play with," she teased, putting the pistols in their holsters.

A car horn startled all of us, and Zoey directed us to the house as Francis went over to the other end of the bridge to check it out. "Louis, come with me," he said, and a man I didn't notice next to a machine gun nodded as he limped over to Francis. I immediately recognized his injury as his leg, and my mouth had started to water as I wondered what it tasted like...

Luckily, Zoey brought me in the house with Kate, allowing me to forget about Louis. "He can't shoot too, can he?" Zoey asked, and I shook my head. "Well we probably can't have him attack any zombies with claws, otherwise Francis would shoot him, so what should we do?"

I could see Katelyn thinking hard, and watched as her face showed whatever invisible debate was going on in her head. "Whoever's in that car will probably want to get across the bridge, and I guess lowering it will cause a lot of noise, right?" she said, and Zoey nodded. "That means there's going to be quite a few infected that'll hear." Katelyn's eyes shifted over to the hole the ladder was at. "What about the bar downstairs?"

I leaped down the hole, hearing Zoey gasp as I did, and saw a counter with lots of bottles behind it. "That might work..." Zoey said, then she and Kate climbed down to join me.

"Alright," Kate said, looking behind the counter. "Jason, can you hide behind here for a while?" I hopped behind it and nodded. "Good," she said, "hopefully nobody comes in here." Katelyn took one more look around before heading back upstairs with Zoey.

"Remember, no matter what happens, STAY HERE," she told me, and I grunted in approval.

Time to hide.


	5. Newcomers

**Ah, The Passing. Seems to have a special spot in all of our hearts. **

**Why I bombed it before all of this updating, I don't know**

**Here's Chapter 5: Newcomers!**

* * *

~Ellis~

"Did I ever tell you 'bout the time my buddy Keith drove his car off a bridge like this?" I asked, leaning against the racecar as we patiently waited for the people on the bridge to get to our side.

"Y'see, it was late at night, an' Keith was driving his car over a bridge when he saw what he though was a bear carcass layin' in the middle of the road." Coach silently ignored me, going through the few weapons we had in the trunk. Rochelle was leaning on the passenger side, half listening as she stared at the street, watching the Infected stumble around as she picked off any commons that grew too close with her pistol.

"Now, he found a stick and decided to poke at it, when he found out it was jus' an ol' lady's fur coat that must've fallen outta her car or somethin'. Then, he thought 'Hey, free coat, right?'" Nick had a katana in his hands as he impatiently stabbed it into the dirt beneath him as he periodically looked up at either me with a death glare or the bridge with puppy dog eyes. He always acted like he hated my stories, but deep down I knew he had to be enjoying at least a few.

"Now, normally owls don't attack a man, right? Well these were sum' pretty pissed off n' hungry owls, and when Keith picked up the coat them owls jus' ambushed him!" I chuckled out loud as I remembered how he looked when we found him. "He had claw marks an inch deep! He jumped off the bridge when he thought 'Hey, owls can't swim, right?' Well, turns out them owls could, and he had to fend 'em off for 20 minutes while treadin' wate-"

"Hello!" a voice called from above, interrupting me, and the four of us collectively turned to see a guy in a black vest and tattoos all over his arm watching us from the bridge. I knew it'd be a good idea to honk the horn! "Hello there!" Coach called back, pulling the few pistols and health kits out of the car. "Could you lower the bridge for us? We're trying to get through."

"I'd love to, but we can't," the man responded, "you'll have to get to the other side to lower the bridge. We can help you once you're there." Nick gave him a skeptical look, and I stopped myself from snickering. "Don't worry, we're cops. When you get over here me and... my other cop friends will help you."

"This guy ain't a cop..." Nick muttered, stepping in front of Coach and glaring up at the obvious biker. "Listen jackass. Get your goddamn ass to lower the goddamn bridge, you greasy, vest wearing monkey!"

"Bite me, Colonel Sanders!" the man yelled back, brandishing his automatic shotgun like a sword.

"Francis, Francis!" a man called, and I saw a tall, dark skinned man come up behind him, limping badly. He had a white suit with a red tie on, and I saw an Uzi strapped to the side of his belt. "Francis, just calm down, what the hell is wrong?" "Suit over here is yelling at me to lower the goddamn bridge!" Francis yelled. It was funny how that's what Rochelle called Nick when we first met each other at the mall in Savannah. The wounded man slightly pushed Francis back. "Listen, we'd love to help, but the generators need to be refueled, and... we lost a man, and there's no way we're going back down there."

I suddenly felt bad for them. Sure, we've had close calls with Tanks, and Nick always trips up over Witches, but luck is always on our side. These two actually lost someone and still stay strong. "What's going on?" someone called as they came from the other side of the bridge.

"Hooooly shit..." I stammered, staring at the woman before me. She was... gorgeous... "Oh, hey there," she called down, and I didn't realize she was talking to me. "Ellis, aren't you gonna talk to her?" Rochelle whispered, looking at me, but I couldn't pull my eyes away. "I... I can't. I-I mean, LOOK AT HER..." I replied, and I could swear she smiled at me. "She's... amazing... Uh... Howdy! Heh, um... Ugh I can't do this I'm so nervous..."

"We'll need to get to the other side of that bridge," Coach said, handing me a pistol, snapping me out of whatever was going on. I grabbed it, and looked back at the girl with Francis, and she was looking at me, and I swore I saw her wink. "Come on, boy, the girl'll be there once we get to the other side," Coach assured me, and Nick snickered. I ignored him, and nodded. But I had something to do first. "Uh, could you guys just wait before we go? I gotta... I jus' need some time alone with the car, incase we don't see it again..."

"Ellis, there's something wrong with you," Nick joked, but I ignored him.

~Jason~

It had been three hours of distant gunfire before they began to get close. "Hey, you got a turd on your shoulder," I heard Francis yell at someone, and they grumbled at him. An advantage to being a leaper was that my senses were incredibly enhanced (Although recently I've noticed a faint orange tint in my vision when it was dark out, like some kind of zombie night vision, at the expense of it being blurry at daytime), and it was easy to hear the conversation Francis, Louis, and Zoey were having with the new humans, even from inside the house across the street.

"I... meant to put that there," said the grumbling man, and I could smell the waste on his entire group from here. "Well, you're here, now you'll have to refuel the generator. It burns through a lot of gas and is pretty loud, so get ready," Zoey told them, and I heard another voice say something in return, but it was too quiet. After a while, a loud noise started as the new humans took a lift down to the generator, and I knew it would call the commons anywhere near the area.

"This is why we got guns!" one of them announced, and soon enough the shots began to rang out. It was rather easy to hide in the house. They had no reason to come in, and the only humans near the home were Francis and Zoey, with Louis firing the machine gun at larger infecteds. However, a strange, sharp beeping... thing was thrown in the room, and I crawled over to it, curious. It was still out of view of anyone outside, so I was safe.

It was a white pipe with wires sticking out of it, with a battery taped to the side. Attached to the pipe was a small device with a red, blinking light. It was too bright for me, and I growled at it. Suddenly, the blinking light flashed brighter, and I backed away, just as masses of common ran in and began to attack the pipe. I noticed the burning fuse at the end at the last second, but didn't turn fast enough as it flashed in a bright, noisy explosion.

Luckily, the common that swarmed the bomb protected me from the deadly shrapnel and heat, but the massive shock of it flung me back, head first into the wall. I let out a weak whimper as I heard something breathing heavily nearby, and it slowly turned into enraged roars.

Giant.

It smashed through the tiny door, and stopped dead when it saw me trying to get up. It grabbed me before I could run, and roared as it threw me into the staircase, and I felt a sharp, intense pain across my chest as it hit the stair. It lumbered closer and closer, trying to get around the tiny room, until the humans outside unleashed all of their weapons into its backside. It roared, prepared to slam it's fist into me when one of the humans got up right behind it with a shotgun, and blew a hole clean through it. It collapsed onto the ground, right on top of me, and the bridge lowering made the human run to it rather than notice me.

"Bridge is down, le's go!" he yelled, and the new humans ran across the bridge to the other side, and a few seconds later a loud car engine screamed past me.

I thought I heard someone run towards me, or maybe down the stairs- no, Zoey put things on the stairs so commons couldn't get up. Fresh blood on a human grew closer to me, and a voice inside screamed at me to kill it, to kill whatever human it was. But I shoved the voice back into my mind as I continuously tried to regain focus with no luck. My chest stung like it was just cut with a knife. Was it cut with a knife? I wasn't sure.

"...you alright?!" someone pleaded. Who was that? Oh yeah, Katelyn. Katelyn was okay, that was good. I whined back to answer, although I forgot what she said as I felt her wrap her arms around me. Her shoulder was exposed... I could tear into it right now, get that feeling I got when I killed that man in the store. No! No, not Katelyn! I fought against myself, will against instinct, and I felt my teeth make contact with her skin, and instantly pulled back. I am NOT killing Katelyn, I thought to myself, before the blackness enveloped me.

~Katelyn~

"Jason?! Jason, are you alright?!" I got Jason out of the partially collapsed staircase, and placed my hand over his chest originally to feel if he was breathing. Instead, I felt something warm and sticky, and noticed the gash across his chest. It was long, but not deep. It must've been from hitting the staircase when I saw the giant... the "Tank," as the other Survivors called it, throw him. I wrapped my arms around him once I found his pulse. I didn't let go until I felt something running down my shoulder.

Cautiously, I looked at Jason to see him sniffing my shoulder. As he did, he was... drooling. His mouth partially open, his sharp, deadly teeth were only an inch or two away from my skin, and I could see the pained look as he tried to fight the virus. I jumped back as he slightly bit down on my shoulder. He didn't break the skin, but there were scratches following where his teeth hit.

Oh god... he almost bit me...

Eventually, his body went limp as he finally passed out from exhaustion. It was probably for the best. However, I had given the Coach guy my only first aid kit, and had nothing to help his wound. "Zoey!" I called out, hearing her running to the ladder on the floor above. "Zoey, hurry!"

Zoey climbed down, her hunting rifle still in her hand, as she kneeled down next to me. She noticed the almost-bite mark on my shoulder, and eyed me suspiciously as she pulled her first aid kit off and began pulling things out. I recognized gauze, rubbing alcohol, and a few other odds an ends in her pack, but that was about as far as my medical knowledge went.

She removed his hoodie to clean his gash, and I was surprised at what he looked like. This was the only time I could really get a good look at him.

The most obvious signs of a "Hunter" were there, with his sharp claws, pointed teeth, pale, gray skin, and a few occasional bumps or boils, but the boils were barely there, compared to the major deformities of others of this Special strain. His face was mostly covered in dried blood, but behind that was a relatively clean, healthy face. I remembered seeing his eyes back at the safe house, remembering how they were a light blue, like before he was infected, only a little clouded over. His dirtied, blond hair was now covered in blood - probably from that careless toss of the Nick guy's pipebomb causing the Commons to flood where the boy was - and Zoey told me that the dried bile in his hair was from something called a Boomer. I also noticed Jason's muscles. He was only 10 years old, yet the virus gave him strong, powerful muscles in his arms and legs.

Aside from the Hunter side-effects, Jason still looked... cute. He was the cutest damn thing before the infection, and even when we traveled around as Survivors together, he managed to keep that goofy smile. But, seeing him like this, weak and at risk of falling to the infection, was too much. Letting Zoey finish healing Jason, I hurried upstairs to the nearest bedroom, and broke down into a loud sob.

I didn't give a shit if Francis and Louis found out Jason was Infected, they'd find out sometime. I felt so sorry for Jason. My false confidence in his survival probably left him more terrified when he began to turn, and even after when we were reunited, I still take the blame for this.

If I was a bit more careful, if I managed to at least FUCKING SCOUT THE DAMN AREA FOR THE POOR KID'S BIRTHDAY...

Somehow, my sobs began to choke me, and I actually had to stop to gag as I forced myself to calm down. There was nothing I could of done to save him, and I shouldn't take the blame for fate. I calmed down enough to hear shouting downstairs. It sounded like Francis found out. "YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS BASTARD WAS A FUCKING HUNTER THIS WHOLE GODDAMN TIME?" Francis roared, and I actually had to cover my ears. That guy could yell...

"Francis, get your head outta your ass and LISTEN TO ME," Zoey demanded, and Francis immediately shut up. I slowly made my way out of the bedroom and inched down the ladder to the floor below, and saw Francis, XM1014 Auto-Shotgun in hand, being held back by a struggling Louis. Zoey stood between the biker and Jason, who was still unconscious. "If he was dangerous, not only would Katelyn have already been dead, but he would of attacked the rest of us instead of agreeing to staying out of us helping the other Survivors," Zoey said calmly, but it didn't help Francis's mood. Mostly since he would not give up on the "Jason's a Hunter" fact.

"I DON'T GIVE TWO FLYING FUCKS IF IT REFUELED THAT GODDAMN GENERATOR ITSELF, IT'S STILL A MOTHERFUCKING ZOMBIE," Francis roared back. When he was serious, he would refer to the Infected as zombies, rather than vampires, so I knew he was truly pissed off. And what he said had pissed me off just as well. "HE'S not a fucking zombie," I said coldly, causing him to turn around. "He's my best and only friend. Why would you think I'd let him travel with me if he was a danger to me?" Francis paused, but I still saw the rage in his eyes. As long as it was towards me and not Zoey or Jason. "He didn't ask to be turned, so you might as well treat him with fucking respect rather than treat him like a pest," I finished, letting the venom of it sink in as I smacked him hard across the face. Zoey and Louis were nice to Jason, yet this asshole has to want him dead and say all that shit about him.

I struggled, but managed to, pick Jason up, and returned to the bedroom upstairs. As I wrapped myself in the covers, I gave it some thought before laying the Leaper/Hunter/Whatever next to me under the blankets. I saw him relax slightly, and wrapped a protective arm over him before letting my eyes drop. Francis was going to have to go through me before he can touch Jason.


	6. Loss of Function

**First time I played L4D, I expected Francis to die from friendly fire every time. I almost managed to with an autoshotty, but everyone told me not to. Shame, I'd rather bunk with Church Guy than fight alongside Francis. **

**I wonder if Jason could do it for me. **

**Chapter 6: Loss of Function**

~Katelyn~

"I'm still not comfortable having that Hunter around," I heard Francis mutter as I drowsily awoke. Jason was still curled up next to me, sleeping, so I silently crept off the bed. I pressed my ear against the door to listen in on whatever was going on outside.

"I know you don't want him around, but as long as he is he can be a big help to us," Zoey argued. Just from the sound, I could tell they were downstairs. "I could care less, he's still one of those damn vampires-"

"Zombies," Louis corrected.

"I don't fucking care! He can kill us whenever he wants and that damn girl's still going to defend the monster!" he yelled back, but quiet enough so Jason didn't wake up. "He is not going to kill us," Zoey snapped, "The poor kid's probably too scared of us to if he wanted to, anyway."

"I still don't like him..." Francis muttered, "and I'm going to break both his and the girl's neck if something happens."

I slowly grabbed the P226 off the table next to the door. I wanted to fill Francis's head full of lead. How did the rest of his group not do that already? Maybe Bill would of...

I heard the window smash behind me, and turned to see Jason, in tears, jump out.

"GODDAMNIT FRANCIS!" I screamed, jumping out and climbing down to the road to catch up. Jason was easily faster than me, even without leaping, but I kept going.

The loud roar stopped me when I saw a Charger blindside me, and I was slammed into the side of a wall. My vision blurred from my head hitting the brick, but I still managed to pull out a knife and stab the underside of the Charger's arm, making him let me go almost instantly.

The Charger swung its fist at me, sending me back into the wall, as it charged into a new target. I heard Jason shriek, then winced at the sound of skull hitting metal. I picked up my fallen P226 and emptied the clip into the Charger's head. It fell almost immediately, and Jason slowly sat up, dazed but otherwise OK.

"What happened?" Francis asked, running outside, and I glared at him. "We could hear you, you son of a bitch," I hissed, and he had a pained look on his face.

"Look, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean-"

"Just SHUT UP, you greasy, washed up _ASSHOLE_!" I interrupted, using what Nick called him. Francis hated Nick, and so did I, but agreeing with the shit-suited conman would really hit the biker.

"Kate!" Zoey called, following behind Francis. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's Jason that you should worry about," I said a bit sharper than I meant, but luckily Zoey didn't catch on, and she helped Jason get to his feet. Jason made something that sounded like an "Ow," and pointed to the back of his head. "I know, you have a mild concussion," Zoey said calmly to him, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's get back inside."

Tears began to form on Jason's face as he and Zoey walked by Francis, who was still shocked at what I said. Once the two were inside with Louis, Francis looked at me with absolute hate. "You take that back," he threatened. I simply spat at his shoes. "Bite me, 'Cop.'"

The biker swung a fist at me, to which I easily dodged, and landed a kick to his groin. He collapsed onto the ground in pain, groaning. Down before the fight even begins.

"If you even think about hurting Jason," I hissed in his ear, "I will not hesitate to shoot an entire clip into your big ass mouth." I made sure he watched as I ran up the wall of the house, grabbed on the window, and climbed in after a one-finger salute.

~Jason~

He hates me... He called me a _monster_... Is that what people thought of me? A monster?

'_That's all they see you as. A monster,'_ a voice said. I looked around, confused, but nobody was in the bedroom with me. '_Maybe you should show him what such a monster can do._' I realized it was my thoughts, except... at the same time, it wasn't...

"Who are you?" I wanted to ask, but it only came out in whines and growls. Can't speak, I keep forgetting.

'_You, of course,_' it spoke back. It was all growls, yet I understood it perfectly. Was my mind messing with me? Or was this the infection? '_Francis wants to kill you, and Louis is afraid of you._'

"But-"

'_And Zoey only pretends to be nice so Katelyn is happy._'

"Liar!" I yelled back in screeches, tears welling up. '_Katelyn wants to find the cure. But there is none. And she'll probably just kill you once she finds that out._' I broke down, covering my ears. "Leave me alone..." I felt like tearing my ears out of my head, but my hands couldn't do it. Every part of my body shook in... What was this? Weakness? Fear?

'_They want to KILL YOU, idiot..._' the voice growled, and my tears started to stop. The smell of humans grew stronger. The orange tint in my vision grew, and... I could see them... through the walls...- No, it was Katelyn! Don't!

"Don't go in there yet," Louis's voice said outside the room, and I could see his figure move to talk on the other side of the wall. "He sounds pissed, I'd let him calm down, or whatever is going on."

'_KILL THEM YOU IDIOT... they are WEAK..._' the voice cackled. My stomach growled in hunger, but not like normal, when I could eat just about anything to help it. I was craving the humans outside that door... my mouth began to water at the scent of... Louis? And... Zoey... And, and Katelyn... And...

Him... Francis.

I wanted to kill him first. He would be the first to die. Growls escaped my throat as the memory of what he said came back. I could already taste his bloody insides, and there was nothing I wanted more than the real thing.

"...that damn girl's gonna defend the monster..."

No, I wasn't the monster, **he** was. He had to be... you don't call anyone a monster when they're a few feet away... he knew I could hear him, too! He wanted me to hear that, didn't he?! No, he couldn't have... But... he did... '_Yes, if you kill him, you'll feel a hundred times better! Francis is trying to hurt you_.' No... Nonono I wasn't going to fall for it again... They were my friends... Right?...

Dark spots started forming in my vision, and it took everything to stay awake. Go away, you stupid voice... '_You can't escape what you are. You aren't Jason! Jason died when Katelyn left him alone in that room! You should avenge him!_' No... it was all lies... I was Jason, what else could I be?! I died when the virus killed me... but... I wasn't dead, I was here, or... but... Katelyn... needs to live... Please...no...

My legs started to twitch as I noticed I've been crouched since I got in here. The watering in my mouth turned to blood... Why was that...? Oh, I've been biting... biting my tongue... I need something else to bite.

Weren't there humans outside...? Yesyesyes, there were! I could smell them... No, no I'd let... her down... Kate... Katelyn? Maybe... just this once... She could... understand... right?

No... Too hungry... She hated... biker, so did... Other girl, other guy, didn't like... him... she... he... they... would let me... Kill... '_Go ahead. Kill him._'

Killhimkillhimkillhim... he needs to die... Yes... First.. need to break door...

"Jason? Are you okay in there?"

~Zoey~

"Jason? Are you okay in there?"

I was leaning against the door, pressing my ear against it to listen. Jason started making... odd noises since I put him in there. First, they were sobs and whines, but they started to get weird... he began growling to himself, or grunting at something, like he was talking to somebody, yet nobody was in there.

He giggled when I asked that, growling back. It seemed playful, but in his current state I was worried he was going insane. "Jason, stop, you're scaring us." He stopped suddenly, and let out a threatening growl at me. Why?! What the hell was going on in there?! Louis limped next to me, knocking on the door. "Hey, Jason," he said, "you're scaring us, come on, kid."

It seemed to calm the little Hunter down, and he began growling softly back... was he trying to talk to Louis? "I think he's trying to talk," I whispered.

Francis had stumbled in the house a while ago holding his crotch, and now he was leaning against the opposite wall, grumbling about something stupid. I could practically hear Jason breathing through the wall, most of it ending as a growl.

Katelyn finally returned after blowing off some steam, and was about to burst into Jason's room before I stopped her. "What?!" she demanded. Apparently she didn't blow off enough steam, her fingers still twitched around the trigger of the shotgun, and was glaring at me like I had a death wish.

"Shhh," I whispered, listening to Jason behind the door again. Katelyn noticed it, too, and her rage dissolved into worry. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Your pet Hunter's finally goin' insane," Francis joked, and narrowly avoided Katelyn slamming the butt of her gun into his face. "Wuss," he snickered, and I held Kate back before she could do anything else. "Francis, just shut up!" I yelled. "No! And I've had it with that goddamn Hunter too!" he roared back, picking up his auto shotgun. I could see Kate's face change to horror as he speed walked towards the door separating him from Jason. "No- NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kate screamed, wriggling out of my grip.

But before Francis could shoot the door down, Jason screeched as he lunged through it, tackling Francis and sending them both to the ground. The kid's mouth was dripping in drool and... blood?

Jason swatted Francis's gun out of his hands, and instead of what I expected Hunters to do, he continuously smashed Francis's head into the floor.

That was worse.

"Jason, get off of him!" I yelled, kicking the Hunter off him. He rolled away, looking up at me from behind the now bloody hood, and growled, baring his teeth. What happened?! Before I could ask, he lunged onto me, and I held my hand up as he pinned me down and tore at my arm, trying to reach my neck. Francis was right... he's become one of them...

"Jason, get off of Zoey!" Katelyn finally spoke up, and the Hunter froze when he heard her voice. I used this to punch him in the face, making him stumble back. I jumped up just as he leaped for me again, aiming for my throat. I closed my eyes, waiting for the claws to dig into my throat, but it never came.

Katelyn jumped in front of me, and somehow she managed to wrestle Jason to the ground. "Jason, STOP IT!" Jason stopped struggling, and was staring up at Katelyn, at first in anger, but it changed to confusion and shock. She slowly got off of him as he huddled into the corner, crying. I looked over to the unconscious Francis, and checked his head. Odds are he'd have a concussion after that. Jason managed to make his head _BLEED_, and he was barely half his size.

I ignored the pain in my bleeding arm as I wrapped bandages around his head. "No... no... no..." Jason whined behind me, surprising all of us. "Did he just talk?" Louis asked, getting up from when Jason knocked him over lunging at Francis.

Jason was completely ignoring everything around him, curling up and staring off into space. The only person he was responding to was Katelyn, who was only a little less shocked.

"What the fuck was that?!" I asked, staring at the Hunter in disbelief. "I... he... I think he got mad at Francis and... the infection just took over..." Kate muttered, comforting Jason, who continued to whisper "No..." "Zoey, just... go clean up your arm..." she whispered, and I nodded, grabbing another first aid kit to wrap my arm up. Jason wasn't as sane as we thought.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Hello! If you're reading this, thanks for staying with my story, from the shitty starting to the dramatically improved remake. I promise it'll get better as it goes on. 1000 views might not seem like a lot to some people, but to me that's an amazing feat. My first visitor for Newcomers was from Singapore! Thank you, Singapore reader!**

**Katelyn: I assume this is where you'll let people ask questions?**

**Me: Yeah, why not? Seems like a fun way to interact with readers, maybe even meet people that want to play a round or two on Steam. **

**Katelyn: That doesn't sound like a disaster waiting to happen. Hey, how come we're having this conversation without Jason?**

**Me: He can't speak, all he can say is things like Yes or No. **

**Katelyn: Eh, fair point. **

**So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me!**

**Don't get bit out there**

**Pyro**


	7. Slight Tensions

**I've been considering making a Special Infected, but not entirely done with it. We'll see how it goes :P**

* * *

**Slight Tensions**

* * *

~Katelyn~

Jason might have been lucky, or strong willed, or WHATEVER, to escape the mindless urge to kill like other victims to the Green Flu, but as it turned out, he still lost it easily. Thanks to hours of persuading by Zoey and Louis, Francis agreed to let us stay, despite the accident, but I had to figure out why Jason did that in return.

It was hard, since he couldn't talk, but I learned how to watch when he snaps. I would occasionally take a walk with Jason, whether it'd be sitting by the water or parkour, and I've seen where he'd be... tense. Whenever he'd get really high up where I was far below, I could see him visibly twitching, probably wanting to pounce, and he'd immediately crawl back down. Apparently, if he's in high places or above a human, the urge creeps in.

Francis was also a pretty big trigger to him, too. Jason would always stand between the biker and me, no matter what was happening, and would glare at him with an enraged look whenever the man would pick up his shotgun, let alone do anything else. He's almost attacked Francis at least twice in the past few days, but I'd stop him before anything really happened.

It's been three days, and Jason has been able to stop himself from snapping at anybody. As long as we still had some form of meat, he'd be more or less okay.

Jason had left early in the morning to annoy any Specials that happened to be in a mile radius. I was about to come with him when Francis stopped me.

"We need to talk," he said, but there was no sarcasm or anger in his voice. "We're going to go to New Orleans like the last Survivors we met," Louis said, "but if you two wanna come with us, there's something you should know."

~Jason~

"...There's something you should know," I overheard Louis saying. Most of the other Specials nearby were killed when the other humans passed by, so I came back early. I hid outside the house as I listened in.

"Jason's been getting really unstable, and don't deny it," Zoey said. No I haven't... have I? I was fine, right? "If you guys come with us, you have to promise Jason won't attack us," Francis said. As if... he's just worried he'll say something stupid to piss me off. But what if he was serious?

"If he attacks..." Zoey stopped. I could see their faint silhouette through the wall... was this some infected-vision thing? The orange vision was creeping me out. "... if he attacks, we'll have to kill him. No second chances."

...What?

I'm not going to attack them... well, I hurt them a few days ago but that was accidental...

~Katelyn~

"Why is it a problem if he gets a little mad?!" I yelled at them. "What if he has more nightmares, and, and he starts scratching or biting in his sleep again?! Nobody can control that!"

"Kate," Francis said softly, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder, but I pulled back. "Don't 'Kate' me! You're telling me you'll kill my only damn friend if he swings at us accidentally-"

"I'm not saying that," he said, still quiet. He wasn't mad at all... that's fucking scary. "But how do you know if you're immune?"

"I..." I was immune, I had to be. "I-I've been scratched and clawed plenty of times, and I'm still here..."

"Were you ever bitten?" Zoey asked, and I stopped. As far as I knew, all three of them have been clawed, bitten, chewed, punched, body slammed, and choked thousands of times by infected, and are clearly immune. I've never actually been bitten. "If Jason bites you, and you aren't immune..." Zoey trailed off, then shook her head. "You know what, we have to get going anyway. Just... keep an eye on Jason, and we should be fine, ok? I really don't want to see you turn, or worse." I nodded, understanding what she meant.

Goddamnit, Jason, please get your shit together...

"Zoey, you need sleep."

"No... I'll be fine, 'can still drive..."

After talking to the three, Jason came back and we all got ready to leave. The sailboat had suffered way too much damage than they thought, and was extremely risky, so their plan was to follow the other Survivors to New Orleans. It's been a few days of driving and stopping to refuel (We even had to switch to a new car when we got stuck on a blocked highway near Whispering Oaks), and we've been driving on a road right next to a huge swamp.

It's only been a few hours since our last stop, and Zoey's swerved about six times within the past 20 minutes. She was ready to sleep at the wheel, and I was worried we'd crash any minute now.

"Zoey, pull over, I'll drive," Francis said from the back, while Jason was grabbing tightly onto my leg. "It's ok, I'll... be ok, l'mme drive," the college girl said, her head drooping lower and lower. Finally, I had it, and reached over and smashed my fist on the horn, the loud beeping startling everyone.

"GODDAMNIT!" Zoey yelled at me, "Could of warned me."

"Then there'd be no point, you're practically half asleep," I told her, glancing at the road periodically to make sure she didn't hit anything. "It's OK for us to stop, somebody else can dri- ZOEY!"

The Smoker jumped in front of the car before Zoey could react, and it smashed into our windshield. I wasn't sure what happened after, but I heard screeching tires, yelling, and felt extreme pain in my leg as the car went off road into the swamp. I hit my head on the dashboard as the car slammed into a tree, and everything went black.


	8. From 5 to 9

**Just a little bit of a "touch up" of the old version. **

**I told myself to wait until the latest chapter gets a certain number of views before posting, but eh, I'll just post when it looks neat and ready to publish. **

**MY GOD this paragraph bug is... Bleh**

**From 5 To 9**

* * *

**~Nick~**

"God... DAMNIT..." I sputtered, falling out of the mangled chopper. I looked around, wondering where everyone went. "Nick, you alright?" someone called out, and I turned to see Ellis run towards me. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why the hell did ya shoot the pilot?" he asked. I looked up to him with a look of disbelief. "He turned into a GODDAMN ZOMBIE!" I yelled at him, kicking the side of the chopper. "What was I supposed to do, patiently wait for him to rip us up?!"

"Nick, calm down," a man said behind me. Coach. "It doesn't matter anymore, now we just have to get out of this swamp."

I hated how damn calm Coach was, but I didn't want to argue with him right now. "Alright, fine, let's just find Rochelle and get out of here," I said, picking up the pistol that fell out of the chopper.

Coach started looking around for any sign of the reporter, before spotting her face-down on the ground. "Hey, over here!" he called out, as I helped him pick up Rochelle. She looked beat up, but otherwise OK.

"Hey guys, come check this out," Ellis said, pointing to a wrecked minivan that was rolled on its side. "It looks rather new," Coach said. "You mean the car or the wreck?" I joked, but his face told me that was stupid. "Let's see if they had anything with them."

As we got closer, one of the doors was slowly pushed open, and a familiar face crawled out. "Zoey?!" Ellis yelled, running over to her. A bruised Zoey barely looked up when the mechanic pulled her out.

"Goddamnit, girl, how ya doing?"

"I see you left your Hot Dog car, kid" Francis said as he got himself out of the back door.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" I asked. I seemed to be the only one who was smart enough to wonder why they were here. "We were running out supplies, had to start moving," Francis said.

"Guys, Katelyn's not waking up," a voice said inside. It took me a while to remember it was Louis, the injured one. "Who's Katelyn?" I asked. I didn't remember a Katelyn, although I recalled seeing someone with a hunting rifle on the roof back at the bridge. "Zoey's friend," Francis muttered, and climbed up the car to help. Louis pushed her up while Francis pulled. When they got the girl out, she had a huge bruise across her forehead, with blood seeping out of it. I noticed her leg was torn up, too, but her pants hid it well enough for nobody else to see. "Oh god," Zoey muttered, "do any of you guys have any first aid?"

She had to be kidding. I just crash landed a goddamn helicopter, and she expects us to find MEDICAL SUPPLIES in the wreck-

"Yeah, I always carry a li'l pack," Ellis said, interrupting my thoughts. He pulled a red pack off of his back, and began pulling out a whole assortment of things. Pain pills, adrenaline, medical tape, he had everything. I hated the kid with a burning passion, but I had to give him credit for how prepared he was. Zoey began wrapping the girl's head in gauze, and have her a few pain pills when the girl was able to swallow.

"Hey, where's Jason?" Francis asked. "You guys have MORE people?" I asked. It was like they needed a bunch of replacements to Bill or something. "Well, I wouldn't say he's a person, but-"

"Jason's gone," Louis said, searching through the flipped car. "Gone?!" Zoey yelled, but I was still confused. Not a person?

Francis saw something in the bushes near the car, and began running over to it. I saw him drag a child out, cut up badly from broken glass and thorns.

Wait, this kid looked... off. He was incredibly pale, and I swear I saw claws on his hands.

Shit.

"Holy shit, get back!" I warned, looking at my group. Coach hadn't seen the kid yet, still tending to the teenage girl with Zoey, but Ellis caught on too and held his pistol up at the Hunter. "No, guns down," Francis said, picking the kid up. "You'll piss off Katelyn."

I couldn't believe them. After their leading man dies, they replace him with two little kids, one being a Hunter. "Are you guys crazy?" Ellis yelled, startling Coach. "Wait, what the hell's going on?" the man asked.

"These dumbasses are helping this... THING," I replied. He looked shocked, too, but Katelyn whispered something to him and he relaxed a bit. "He's friendly," Zoey said, and I was ready to blow. "He can't be friendly, he's infected!" I screamed. "Zombies don't have goddamn feelings or act nice! They KILL us. How it hasn't killed you yet is beyond me, but you can't seriously believe it's because it's FRIE-"

A shotgun blast to the sky cut me off, and I almost fell from how close the blast was. Francis apparently grabbed his shotgun from the wrecked car and shot it behind me to shut me up. "He's. Friendly. Got it, Turd Suit?

At least he didn't shoot me.

"Please don't hurt him," Katelyn whimpered softly, and Coach comforted the girl. "Don't worry, we'll try and protect him, right Nick?" he said, looking straight at me. I cursed under my breath. There have been so many times I've wanted to smack Coach across the face, but it would be so wrong. He's practically half the reason we manage to get around, and he has last say in almost everything.

"...Fine," I hissed, "but if that damn thing attacks I WILL blow it's brains out."

"And Ellis, you too," Coach said, but Ellis didn't have to say yes when we saw the Hunter in his hands. "Aww, he's too darn cute," the mechanic said, and the Hunter poked the mechanic's hat bill.

I couldn't believe how stupid everyone was. If Jason- no, zombies don't have freaking names. If that THING attacks one of the others, I'll consider LETTING him so that they learn not to be such idiots.

**~Jason~**

Aside from the one grumpy guy that they called Nick, I liked these new humans. I remembered Ellis from the generator room, and his talking was fun to listen to.

He put me down, which was probably a good thing to do. When I smelled Katelyn's blood, I darted immediately towards her, digging into the ground to get a head start. She must've gotten hurt bad, because I felt her blood on my hand when I touched her forehead. She winced, but otherwise seemed OK. I saw my claw marks on her leg (Through the gauze around my eyes, too. This infected vision was SCARY) and... a bite mark. Did I accidentally bite her? To cover it up, I dug my claws a bit around it to make it blend in when nobody was looking. I heard Nick say something sarcastic about me, but ignored it.

"K... ate?" I tried weakly, and heard Ellis practically squeal in delight. "He can TALK?! Man this can't get better!" he yelled. But my attention was on Katelyn when she coughed slightly, placing her hand on my cheek. "Hey Jason," she whispered, "what's up?"

I knew she was trying to cheer me up, but still whimpered at her wounds. "She'll be fine, boy," a man said behind me, and I turned around to face him. "My name's Coach. I heard your name was Jason, right?" I nodded my head.

"Alright, we can keep the zombie, now can we move?" Nick asked, clearly annoyed, and I growled at him to shut up. Coach sighed, helping Katelyn up. "Alright, let's find somewhere safe to hide at least until Katelyn's better," he said, and everyone agreed. Someone's hand went in front of me, and I looked up, curious. "Not on that foot you're walkin," Ellis said, picking me up. I wasn't sure what he meant, until I noticed my foot was completely numb. What the hell?

"Yeeeeah that looks pretty broken," he said, but I was worried. My foot was broken?! I whimpered, thinking I'd never be able to leap around again. "Don't worry, Rochelle will fix that up when she's feelin' better," he explained, and I relaxed a bit. At least it could be fixed.

"Alright, try and stay on my back, OK?" Ellis said, and I nodded as he placed me on his shoulders. I could hear the infected charging towards all of our noise, and the second one was in sight Nick shot his pistol at its head. "Here they come!"


	9. Don't Tell

**Chapter 9: Don't Tell**

* * *

**~Jason~**

"Hey, did I ever tell you about the time Keith and I entered a blindfolded piggyback ride compe-"

"Ellis?" Nick interrupted.

"What?"

"Shut the hell up."

I could figure out where Ellis was going with his story, since I was piggyback riding him and I couldn't see, but I think that he was blindfolded in his story. Too bad Nick interrupted, I wanted to hear the story, but I didn't want to give Nick more reasons to be pissed off. He smelled like a sewer, and I guessed he wasn't happy about it.

We had barely gotten to the next safe room in one piece, which was a home just outside of the small town of swamp people. "They're all zombies..." Zoey muttered. Nick snickered, shooting some of the infected out the window. "Poor bastards," he whispered, blowing one their heads off. I was genuinely concerned that Nick was crazy.

"No point waiting here," Louis said, grabbing his shotgun, "we should head out before it gets late."

"I agree," Ellis said, reloading his hunting rifle as I jumped off him. "This place ain't built for 9."

Katelyn, who was still shaky from the car accident (And the bite. I'm not sure if anyone else knows about it) picked me up, placing me on her shoulders as she grabbed her two pistols from the table. She'd stop and feel the slide every time we were leaving a safe room, so I reached out to touch it as well. There were engravings along the side of it.

"This was my dad's before he gave it to me when the infection hit,"she said to me, and everyone gasped. She wouldn't respond to anything anyone else said that whole day, but now she was talking to me like we were already in the middle of a conversation. "We thought I got infected when I started showing symptoms, and he left this for me to defend myself until I turned." Ellis seemed to be the most surprised. He's an easy guy to talk to. "Luckily, I just had a bad cold, but... when I set out to find him again..." She hung her head, keeping tears back, and everyone understood.

Even Nick was sympathetic, getting eye level and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about your dad," he said softly, and for once, it sounded like he meant it. Katelyn sniffed, hugging the conman. "Thanks, Suit," she said, and Nick just smiled. "I think I can live with that name."

"You still smell like shit."

"Don't push your luck," Nick responded, getting a laugh out of most of us.

**~Katelyn~**

It's been more than an hour, right? The Green Flu took how long... goddamnit why didn't I pay attention to the writing from other Survivors?!

Jason did a good job cutting up my leg, but I knew he bit me, too. I felt his teeth sink into my leg before the car completely flipped... This is what Zoey was talking about...

Oh god, what am I doing? I sound like the Church Guy that Louis told me about. I'm fine! It's been over an hour, I must be immune...

Right?

"You guys stay here, I'm going to go on ahead and check it out," Francis said, and began to scout out the area before we could throw our opinion in. While he was gone, I could hear my stomach growling. Damn, when was the last time we ate?

"Ellis, you have that beef jerky, right?" I asked the mechanic, and he nodded. I remember seeing him eating a handful of it on the way to this safe house.

"Sure do, you want a little?" he asked, and I nodded as he handed me the bag. I wolfed most of it down, but I was still hungry.

Damnit, Kate, stop! You're just bored, you aren't hungry anymore!

On the other hand, I still felt like I was starving. I handed the half-empty bag of jerky back to Ellis, and searched through my pack for something. I was barely thinking as I grabbed the first thing I knew was food and pulled it out.

It was a bunch of lollipops wrapped together by a rubber band. I used these to escape Witches (I still don't get the name) without trouble, but right now they looked delicious.

Wait, don't devour it all, you'll get sick, I told myself, grabbing three from the bunch and unwrapping one. I began to lick at it, and sugar never tasted this good to me. Starvation must do crazy things to taste buds.

Several minutes later, we heard three taps on the door, then one, then three more. Francis. Nick opened the door to let the biker in, who was covered in bile and blood. That must have been from those Boomers they talked about. Puking, fat zombies that EXPLODED. Must of been what was in Jason's hair.

"I think the path is clear enough," he said, clearly annoyed by the stomach fluids on him. "Sure you don't want a bath?" I joked, pointing towards the swampy waters next to the safe house. Before Francis could retort, Coach ended it by stepping outside with an auto shotgun of his own, motioning for us to follow.

I walked with Jason on my shoulder, who was surprisingly light, when I heard something nearby. It sounded like a static radio, but I wasn't sure. What would a radio be doing in the middle of a swamp town?

Jason seemed like he heard it, too, but none of the others did. "You guys hear that?" I asked, and the Survivors looked at me, confused. "Hear what?" Ellis asked, looking around.

"I can hear a radio, or static or something- you really can't hear it?" I asked. None of them said they heard it, and were looking at me like I had two heads (And with all of these crazy Specials, I wouldn't be surprised to see a two-headed zombie). I thought I was going crazy when it got louder, and eventually I saw a body hanging on a tree. "Hey, over there!" I said, running to it. The rest of the group was surprised I was right about the sound.

It was a dead pilot, hanging by his parachute on the trees. His walkie talkie was left on, nothing but static coming out of it. "...can hear this, come t' tha plantation house, I'll pick ye up th're..." I heard, the rest static. "Sounds like a local broadcast," Rochelle said, and the rest of us agreed. "I guess we should keep going."

**~Jason~**

I could hear and sense the infected before anyone else could see them, so I was able to navigate us away from them to keep quiet and preserve ammo. Katelyn seemed to be avoiding infected without my help, so I let her lead eventually. "You sure you've never lived down here before?" Nick asked, "you seem to know exactly where to go."

"No, I was just always good traveling in the wild," Katelyn said, slowing down as we saw more piles of zombies with bullet holes in them. "I was more of a Boy Scout than my brother," she joked. The plantation house must be close," she said, stepping over one oddly angled body as it stared blankly into space, an angered face imbedded onto it.

Finally, after what felt like forever, we reached the plantation house, only to have Katelyn start to lose balance until she collapsed onto the ground. I jumped off before she hit the ground, and stepped back as she began to vomit. Luckily, it looked like normal vomit and not like the bloody, black... stuff that infected victims vomited up. But she still didn't get back up, and eventually passed out. Katelyn, what the hell?!

"Kate, wake up!" Ellis yelled, running over to her side. I limped to her other side to nudge her. "At least she's breathin'," Ellis said, "not sure what th' hell just happened..."

"If anyone c'n hear this, please pick up!" A voice bellowed from a radio, and Nick ran to it to respond. "Ye- Yeah! We're here!"

"Hello there, I need t' know where yeh are so I can pick ya up as soon as I can," the radio crackled out.

"Uh, we're at a large plantation house, can't miss it," Nick replied, and it took a while before the man responded. "Alright, y'heard my other broadcast I assume. I'll be ther' in a few minutes, just hold out 'till I get there," the man said, clicking off on his side.

"Ok guys, this should be easy," Nick said as the cries of an incoming horde rang out. "I swear to God, they can smell hope..." Ellis whispered, picking up Katelyn. "Nono, I'm... I'm ok," she muttered, pushing Ellis away. "Y'sure? You fell purty hard," he replied, and Kate nodded.

"Molotovs and shit in the house!" Francis yelled, and we ran inside to defend ourselves while the infected charged uselessly at us. None of them bothered with me, and I used that to my advantage as I tore through them.

"Pipebomb out!" Zoey yelled, and I jumped away as she hurled it deep into the woods so the zombies wouldn't trample me.

Huh... funny how I'd be saying 'zombie'... I pretty much am one.

"Machine gun!" Rochelle called out as she ran towards it, and the beast of a gun ripped into the horde, along with taking down a giant none of us noticed. "I've heard of lucky shots, but that tops the list," Coach muttered, looking at the dead mass of flesh and muscle. The machine gun practically shot its head off with one hit, and it collapsed almost immediately before it could even let out a roar.

"Break's over, Coach, get your snacks and go!" Nick yelled, pointing to the incoming boat. "Le's go!" the driver yelled out through the speakers, and we all made a mad dash for it. Katelyn hopped on first, helping the rest of us in the boat as another massive horde came.

Too bad, they missed us by mere seconds.

"Good job guys," Coach breathed out, sitting down next to the side of the boat, "anyone hurt?"

"I think we're all fine," Katelyn said. She looked like she was ready for round two. "That parking shit must've helped you out a bunch, right?" Nick asked. Katelyn spent a lot of time sniping Special ones from the roof of the mansion or at the front blasting heads off with her shotgun. Surprisingly I only remembered a few infected going for her, it was like the other humans were zombie bait. "Parkour," Kate corrected, loading new shells into her shotgun.

Ellis passed the gun bag around for us to put our weapons in (Except me, of course), before stretching as he laid down. "I'm gonna take a li'l nap, if y'all don't mind," he yawned, out cold in seconds. "When was the last time that boy slept," Coach sighed, and Katelyn laughed. "He's been running on pure adrenaline for way too long."

"How about you?" Francis asked, oddly taking notice in Kate's condition. "You were sick on the ground one second, next your jumping off walls to land on a zombie's head."

Katelyn just shrugged as she sat down next to me. "How about you, J?" she asked, and I smiled in response. Not once was I attacked, not even by the choking ones, or Smokers or whatever. Why were they called Smokers, anyway? When I think of a smoker I think of Bill, not a zombie with tongues sticking out of its head.

"Kate, I wanna check out your leg," Zoey said, and I tensed up, "it's bleeding again."

"Oh," Katelyn said, clearly surprised. Her leg must of had a lot of stress from jumping, it was bleeding slightly. Kate wiped it with some medical cloth from her bag while Zoey rewrapped it in gauze.

"How about your ankle?" Zoey asked me, taping the end of the bandages with some kind of medical tape. I just remembered Ellis saying it was broken, and took notice of it. It hurt a little, but didn't seem broken anymore. "Shit, it healed fast," Zoey said, looking at it. "Fast," I mouthed back, trying to get the word right. If I spoke, it'd probably sound like a growl or whine, so this was as close as I'd get for now.

After Zoey left me be, I sniffed the air, and noticed something out of the normal scents. Kate smelled... different. I remember Bill smelling like this, and Ellis and Louis somewhat, but it was really strong with Kate. Like... an infected, but at the same time human.

I ignored it however after I couldn't think of a reason why. I looked around at the orange-tinted world one last time before drifting off.


	10. Burger Tank

**Sorry I haven't been keeping up, I'll make sure to post more chapters quicker!**

**Life's just been a bitch to me, with school and parents, but I'm getting through!**

**When summer comes around, not only will I have more time to post, I'll also be working on something a little special... I have plenty of 3D Modeling and Design programs, including SolidWorks Pro and multiple Autodesk programs, and somewhere down the road I might make actual Katelyn and Jason reskins for L4D2!**

**I already have friends who are ready to voice them when the time comes as well :)**

**Enough talk, let's read a damn story!**

**Chapter 10: Burger Tank**

* * *

"I'll anchor just off shore waitin' for ya," Virgil called out from the loudspeakers on his boat, "signal me when ya get th' gas!"

"There's not gonna be any gas, just watch," Nick mumbled, when he turned sharply back to the now-distant boat. "Oh, shit, the gun bag!"

**~Katelyn~**

Virgil - the boat driver - had told us he needed more gas to get us to New Orleans, and we stopped near a sugar mill where there was a gas station on the other side of. It was going to be easy, what with two fucking M60s Ellis picked up just before getting on the boat.

Except we somehow managed to leave said guns behind.

"Now what are we supposed to signal him with?!" Nick yelled as he and Francis let out a string of curses.

"Calm down," Ellis said, "Oh! Maybe we could use th' Burger Tank sign! It's got enough light for Virgil to see!"

"As well as every infected nearby," Coach quietly said, "but it might be our only shot. Let's go find some guns and get goin'."

I smiled to myself as my hands wrapped around my pistols. I knew something was going to happen to that bag, and kept my guns on me.

Jason screeched at us from inside the fast-food joint, a smile on his face, and we rushed in after him.

"I think we found us a couple guns," Louis said, as we all saw what got Jason so happy.

On the table was two hunting rifles, two Uzis, an assault rifle, three pump shotguns, an auto shotgun, two Desert Eagles, and quite a few pistols, pipe bombs, Molotovs, and bile bombs.

Beyond fucking jackpot.

Nick and Louis took the Uzis, Ellis and Zoey got the hunting rifles, Rochelle grabbed the assault rifle, Francis took the auto shotgun, while Coach and I grabbed a pump shotgun each. "We should probably save some things for when we come back," Coach said, "It might get a little ugly."

Distant thunder crackled not far from us, and Jason glanced around nervously, his eyes darting up at the sky. He seriously didn't forget what THUNDER was, right? "We should probably start moving," Nick said, already walking out the door. We followed close behind, using Jason as a guide around any nearby infected.

I stopped suddenly, getting everyone's attention. "Kate, what is it?" Rochelle questioned, but I held a hand up to silence her.

Something wasn't right.

"I hear something," I mumbled, listening to the sound, "something big."

"You must have super hearing, I can't hear shit," Nick said, continuing forward. "Nick!" I whisper-yelled, grabbing his shoulder. The heavy breathing I heard turned into growls.

"Just shut up!" I whispered to him, earning an annoyed glance. Jason was twitching nervously. He could hear it too. "Just stay behind me."

Everyone began to follow me as I listened for the giant. I could hear him clear as day, how nobody else did was beyond me.

"Holy shit!" Francis yelled, firing lead into the stomach of a long-necked female... prostitute zombie. She went down with a shriek, a green substance seeping out of her. It looked like extremely corrosive stomach acid, but it dissipated quickly.

The roars only got louder.

"Shit, Tank!" Nick yelled, pointing at the beast smashing through an RV. I fucking knew it!

This Tank was larger than other ones I've seen. Its large, meaty hands were practically made of scars, burns, and blood, and there were bullet holes all over its body. Its spine was exposed on its back, the flesh torn away from the incredible size of the muscle and rotted body, and probably from more than a few Hunters pouncing it.

This thing was HUGE!

"Don't stop shooting!" I cried out as Jason jumped on its back, working on the exposed spine. I wasn't paying much attention to anything other than landing shots on the mass of flesh, but I could tell the boy was having trouble. The spine must of been rock solid.

"Jason, jump off!" I yelled, now running at the Tank as he jumped away. Before the giant could smash his fist on me, I jumped up, swinging myself onto his back with his head, and I pulled out my pistols. Shoving both barrels into his exposed back, I unleashed 50 rounds of superheated .45 rounds into its spine (A P226 with .45 rounds, I knew it'd come in handy). The Tank fell after the guns clicked, the spine no longer intact. But I wasn't done.

"Katelyn, stop! It's dead!" I heard someone shout, but I didn't register it. The only thing I saw was this monster's back, and I started smashing a crowbar I picked up a while back into its body, blood splattering all over me. When someone finally pulled me off the Tank's body, I was in tears. "You bastards took him!" I yelled at the Tank uselessly, running up to it again and swinging at its head, decapitating it with one swing.

My dad was killed by one of those things. I found his body a few days after I recovered from my cold, and the Tank was close by. Last I saw, that Tank was in several pieces.

**~Jason~**

"Katelyn, _stop_!" Zoey cried out, "it's dead!"

I had to pull Kate off of the dead giant, and she almost immediately ran back to it and cut its head off with the crowbar. How that was possible, I don't know. "You bastards took him!" she cried out, tears flowing. Once I finally got her away from the giant, she completely broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

I sensed someone getting close to us, and let out a threatening growl, although I probably wasn't going to do anything. It'd only make things worse.

"Jason," Zoey said quietly, and I stopped. She knelt down next to Kate, who was still crying. "Leave me alone," she whimpered, but Zoey stayed by her side. "Kate, it's ok," she whispered, but Kate just got pissed off. "I already told you._ Leave. Me. Alone_," she growled at the college girl, glaring daggers at her as her grip on the crowbar tightened.

Zoey sighed, getting up. I heard Nick and Francis (mostly Nick) complaining about getting to a safe room before the storm hits, but I ignored them.

Kate's dad must have been killed by a giant... Is that why she was so angry at it?

"I'm... I'll be okay," Katelyn finally said, getting up. Ellis helped her to her feet while she retrieved her shotgun she dropped. I didn't leave her side once we got going again, and she'd periodically wipe a tear from her face or shudder at some memory.

That's all it took to break her down...


End file.
